Tuesday, June 27, 2006

The Occasional Open Thread

Thank you to The Socialist Unity Blog for this idea. This thread is open to whatever you want to discuss; politics, art, blogging, etc. This is the thread, to say the things, that don't fit other threads.

See the John Brown parody site, Thavage Juthice, which parodies Savage Justice. The blog was created by John's rightist admirers. John has been a great contributor to the comments on this blog, getting heat left and right. I'm too boring to be parodied.

I'm amazed how I find about weekly people who link to this blog, from blogs I have never visited. See: Who Links To Me. I don't think that agreement should be the only basis to trade links. I link on the basis of entertainment value, smartness, and visiting my blog. I also link to blogs that I plagiarise.

I believe Sonia is authentically a nudist from Tonga. That is more of a controversy on her own blog.RENEGADE EYE

I'd go for the revolution betrayed because you get the visceral impact of why Trotsky became such a powerful ideological force in the twnetith century, standing in the tradition of the revolution and in opposition to those who wrenched the power away from the workers for their own profit.

But I was intrigued by the phrase "my Maoist friends" what do Maoists do politically (as in activity)?

I would first like to thank Renegade Eye, for opening up my blogger world with several great sites. I still haven’t had time to fully explore all the links on this page, but I’m finding your blog is definitely helping to build a small readership of my own. So thank you.

In random news, I would like to recommend the film Life and Debt, about the affects of the IMF and World Bank on the economy of Jamaica. It is beautifully done and chalk full of amazing shots and facts.

Don't focus so much on brainy intellectual discourse in an effort to keep readership and please the masses who visit regularly. Throw in some inane bullshit every now and then to loosen up the vibes. The revolution can take a back seat to some humor and fun every now and then. Without laughter, music, art and fun -- life would surely be a mistake.

It does not necessarily have to be 'dumbed down.' Trust me, I am quite appreciative of what ren has done and others who create bastions of good conversation with other like minded, intelligent adults. I just meant an occasional instance of lighthearted jocularity would be fun and a break from the monotony of fucked up news we hear everyday. High brow humor can be good sometimes too. :)

So you don't like baseball? FYI... Your socialist compadre, Fidel Castro played baseball and wanted to play for the Yankees. Imagine for a minute if he had been a better player, how much better off the island of Cuba might have been by now. The enormous tourist potential would have brought prosperity, freedom and happiness to all Cubans. Alas, Castro was but a minor leaguer in both the political and sports arenas.GO RED SOX!

Jim Jay: Maoists love polemics defending Stalin. I read one last week, that said Trotsky was an agent of Nazis, against Stalin.

Sangroncito: Nobody more colorful. That Bozo post was classic.

beetroot: Important discussion about the direction of Poland. Even with the Stalinists out of power, the spectre of Trotsky still haunts the government. He never did get vindicated. Still subversive even in his grave.

Sonia: Hasn't updated on her blog, or posted here, in several days. Worry?

Sonia is 'travelling'...she said so last week sometime. She is back soon.

Roman: the reason that the US has not invaded Cuba is because they no that Cubans are the best heavyweight boxers! They don't want to get thir faces punched in. And they no that Cubans are better than them at baseball.

Ren: you ar right, the present Polish government has the spectre of Trotsky hanging over it. That's why the Law and Justice government has banned ice picks from shops...

>Little Zachary was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried >everything... Tutors, Mentors, flash cards, Special learning >centers. In short, everything they could think of to help his math.>>Finally, in a last ditch effort, they took Zachary down and enrolled >him in the local Catholic school. After the first day, little >Zachary came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn't >even kiss his mother Hello. Instead, he went straight to his room >and started studying. Books and papers were spread out all over the >room and little Zachary was hard at work. His mother was amazed. >She called him down to dinner.>>To her shock, the minute he was done, he marched back to his room >without a word, and in no time, he was back hitting the books as >hard as before. This went on for some time, day after day, while the >mother>tried to understand what made all the difference. Finally, little >Zachary brought home his report card. He quietly laid it on the >table, went up to his room and hit the books. With great >trepidation, his Mom looked at it and to her great surprise, little >Zachary got an "A" in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity. >She went to his room and said, "Son, what was it? Was it the nuns?" >Little Zachary looked at her and shook his head, no. "Well, then,"

>she replied, Was it the books, the discipline, the structure, the >uniforms? "WHAT WAS IT ALREADY?">>Little Zachary looked at her and said, "Well, on the first day of >school when I saw that guy nailed to the plus sign, I knew they >weren't fooling around."

I don't want to take up too much space here with my open thread, so I hope I am not out of line using this spot to invite readers of the Eye over to the Flame for some, what I hope to be, though provking open thread material.

am afraid that am yet another addition to your 'Maoist friends' but i sincerely hope this won't affect your regular visits to adarna or youngradicals...we have the same tastes in music and art though. i LOVE ella fitzgerald and nina simone. no debate on this. :-)

thanks. took time to visit some of the links you mentioned and was pleasantly amused to see lyrics to nina simone's mississippi goddam in celticfire's blog (i see what you mean as i was just listening to the mp3 a while ago). that and of course other intelligent and great reads.

i take your offer on the book, but could you consider exchanging it into something i would much rather appreciate? like a jazz cd perhaps? ;-p

BZ - no problem about plugging your blog if you are a newie...and I will be along. It's just I should have known better...especially on an open thread, where the idea is that the ideas about what to debate have to come from the comments and not the post.

I always thought Isaac Deutcher's biography of Trotsky was a rather sad and grim work. I too read it during a summer on break from school, and it probably was one of the reasons I am no longer a Marxist. What's the point of revolution when people are just going to screw it up?

I would expect that you'll have some words, for my blog team member Maryam Namazie. She is less wishy-washy about religion, than I'am. She was awarded "Secular Person of the Year". You'll find her writings provocative.

AN "But on the best starting point for trotsky, if you have time it would be "Histiry of the russian revolution", and if not "lessons of October""

Lessons of october is well written and has pace and relevance - but history of the russian revolution is not a good STARTING point as it is over a thousand pages long and incredibly detailed and complex, often going over the same events more than once from different angles - DO NOT START THERE!